Holding the powerful to account is no "politicising the tragedy"

A new trend is appearing in British political discourse and it's a particularly dismal one. It involves the manufacturing of synthetic outrage in order to demand that people don't attempt to hold the government to account over fatal tragedies.

I'm sure you will all have seen people using this tactic to try to silence criticism of the government over the preventable terrorist atrocities that happened during the general election campaign, and now it's happening again after the Grenfell Tower fire.

Let's just consider what we know about these three incidents.

Manchester Arena: The Manchester Muslim community tipped off the government several times that the bomber was an Islamist fanatic; the Americans tipped us off that he was planning a terrorist attack against the UK; the French tipped us off that he was hanging out with Islamists in Libya and Syria - Somehow he was allowed to pass unhindered through the UK border, then left unwatched as he planned and executed his attack.

London Bridge: Once again the Muslim community tipped off the government multiple times that the ringleader was an Islamist fanatic; he was such a well known Islamist he even appeared on a TV documentary called "The Jihadists Next Door" - He was left unwatched as he went around trying to hire a HGV just days after ISIS had instructed Islamists in the West to attack civilians with vehicles and knives. He eventually got hold of a hire van and led a deadly knife rampage through the streets of London.

Grenfell Tower: The Tory government were handed a report in 2013 that detailed fire safety improvements that should be made to 4,000 tower blocks in the UK which they ignored for four years; Boris Johnson shut down 10 fire stations in London; and Eric Pickles refused to bring in rules requiring fire sprinkler systems with a statement that "we consider a regulatory requirement is unnecessary and disproportionate" - At least six people died when Grenfell Tower rapidly turned into an inferno.

Each of these three tragedies was obviously preventable, but after every one of these incidents people have tried to shut me up with synthetic outrage displays and claims that talking about the political implications of these appalling incidents is somehow beyond the pale.

This censorship strategy seems to make the case that as long as the government cock up is so big that people actually die then they're suddenly beyond criticism or reproach because any attempt to hold them to account is "politicising the tragedy".

The world these people would like to inhabit is one where if the government lose count of the paperclips then we're allowed to get angry at them, but if people actually die then it's "shut up", "shut up", "shut up"!

It is extraordinary the lengths people will go to in order to defend the government from criticism.

Imagine the kind of person you'd have to be to work yourself up into a fit of faux outrage that some people want to hold the government to account over tragic and blatantly preventable deaths, but have no anger or outrage whatever at the government for having allowed the deaths to happen.

Presumably these people are the same the kind who get totally outraged if Jeremy Corbyn doesn't bow deeply enough at the cenotaph, can't remember a number off the top of his head in a live interview, doesn't wear a smart enough suit, or remains silent but respectful for the national anthem.

Next time you see someone trying to shout down criticism of the government in this manner, make sure you tell them to put their synthetic outrage away and ask them why they're so keen to absolve the government of responsibility by directing outrage at the people trying to hold the powerful to account for their negligence.

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Tories sat on tower block fire safety report for 4 years

It's not fair to blame Gavin Barwell alone for the shocking lack of government action on the damning fire safety report he sat on, after all, he was only the latest in a succession of Tory housing ministers who failed to act on the report recommendations.

The report was produced after the Lakanal House fire in Camberwell cost the lives of six residents. It recommended the instillation of sprinklers in 4,000 tower blocks across the United Kingdom and was completed in 2013.

Ever since then successive Tory housing ministers have fobbed off these fire safety concerns by saying they're looking into it. Theresa May's newly promoted Chief of Staff Gavin Barwell succeeded Brandon Lewis, Kris Hopkins and Mark Prisk who also sat on the report.

The deadly fire at Grenfell Tower in North Kensington is exactly the kind of incident the ignored report was intended to prevent.

The #fire is now spread to the other side. Ash falling in front of my window down. #GrenfellTower #Kensington #london #PrayersForGrenfell pic.twitter.com/Zbg5eTJttf

— ✯ Natalie ✯ (@Natalie_Oxford) June 14, 2017

Aside from the parliamentary report into tower block fire safety measures, there is also the heartbreaking blog post from the Grenfell residents' group warning about the lack of fire safety measures in the block and the fact that residents had actually been advised to remain inside their properties in the case of fire, which would certainly have cost residents their lives given the size of the fire.

This kind of fire safety negligence from the building management is certain to be prosecuted, but no doubt Tories like Gavin Barwell and his predecessors will be allowed to get away with their role in this tragedy.

Had they acted on the report instead of sitting on it for 4 years, surely the negligent building owners would have had to have acted to comply with any new fire safety laws.

It seems Barwell and his predecessors will get away with it in much the same way as Theresa May and Amber Rudd are being allowed to get away with letting two avoidable terrorist incidents happen on their watch. Manchester Arena happened because an Islamist extremist who was known to be plotting a terrorist attack against the UK was allowed to pass unhindered through the UK border, then left unwatched as he planned and executed his depraved attack. The ringleader of the second was such a well known extremist that he'd been featured in a TV show called "The Jihadists next door".

This shockingly indifferent Tory attitude to public safety costs lives. But they're only the lives of "the lower orders" so Tories simply don't care. If the report had detailed how the Houses of Parliament were a deadly fire trap (rather than 4,000 tower blocks across the UK) do you honestly think they'd have done nothing but sit on the report for four years until parliament burned down with them inside it?

Of course not, because in their minds they are important, and we're just disposable plebs. If they died in a fire or a terrorist attack it would be a terrible tragedy, if we die in a fire or a terrorist attack it would be an unfortunate incident that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things because there are plenty more ordinary plebs to replace us.

Gavin Barwell and his Housing minister predecessors need to be questioned immediately about how this tower block fire safety report came to be sat on for 4 years.

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Theresa May is planning to give jihadist terrorists a huge ideological victory

If anyone is responsible for the terrorist atrocities in Manchester and London it's undeniably Theresa May.

Theresa's blunders

She was the Home Secretary for six years, during which time she slashed more police jobs than any Home Secretary in history dragging the UK back to 1970s levels of per capita policing. She was warned over and again that these cuts were jeopardising public safety, but she carried on regardless.

Then she was Prime Minister when two of the worst security blunders in modern history occurred on her watch. 

• The first was Salman Abedi: The UK government was tipped off at least five times by the Manchester Muslim community that he was an extremist. Then they were tipped off by the Americans that he was planning a terrorist attack against Britain. Then he was allowed to pass unhindered through the UK border. Then he obtained explosives and carried out his grotesque attack.

• The second was arguably even worse. The ringleader Khumar Butt was such a well known Islamist fanatic that he appeared in a bloody TV documentary called "The Jihadists next door"! Just days after ISIS sent out an appeal for Islamists to attack western cities with vehicles and knives, Butt was going around his local neighbourhood asking people where he could hire a van, but the intelligence services weren't watching, and seven people died in utterly horrific circumstances as a result.

Theresa's ludicrous response

Theresa May's responses to these atrocities have been absolutely dismal.

Anyone with even a grain of integrity would have offered their resignation over such catastrophic failings, but not Theresa. She's decided to use the attacks to as a convenient situation to piggy-back her pre-existing obsessions onto.

One of her obsessions is a misguided authoritarian craving to control the Internet. Her plan to ban encryption is shockingly illiterate from a technical perspective, but as she proved with her police cutting agenda, Theresa May listens to nobody, especially not the experts.

Her other pre-existing agenda is her hatred of human rights. She's always wanted to scrap them, and has said so on many occasions. So once again she's wheeled out her threat to abolish human rights, using the two horrific and deadly displays of government negligence as the convenient excuse.

The problem is with her rights-scrapping agenda is that it would be considered a huge victory by the Islamist fanatics if their attacks actually resulted in the destruction of some of the justice-based liberal western values that they hate.

They'll see it as having forced our hand. Obviously it's a long way from the full imposition of Sharia Law these lunatics want, but for them it will be seen as a significant step towards their objective of destroying western liberal justice.

You don't have to like them to understand how these fuckers think:

"If we can get them to abolish their own human rights with a suicide bombing in Manchester and a couple of haphazard rampages in London, just imagine what we could achieve with a sustained campaign of attacks."

By using these attacks to scrap our rights, she'd be showing them that we're weak and ideologically malleable.

She'd be giving them a huge ideological victory and a massive confidence boost.

The right-wing press

Make no mistake about it, the right-wing press know that Theresa May is a total dud, but they're going to continue backing her to the hilt because they're desperate to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of power.

Their hatred of his agenda is very much more powerful that their disappointment with Theresa's ineptitude.

Jeremy Corbyn is threatening to interfere with their tax-dodging schemes, he's talking about making them pay their fair share of tax, he's planning to give more political power to ordinary people (the billionaire propaganda barons believe the political power belongs to them) and most terrifying of all from their perspective, they know he can't be bought.

That's why they're desperately smearing Jeremy Corbyn as the terrorist sympathiser, even though their beloved Theresa repeatedly sucks up to the rogue terrorist-backing states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and is poised to hand ISIS one of their biggest ideological victory in Europe as a result of three terrorist attacks (two of which should undoubtedly been thwarted.

How is she so inept?

To put it bluntly Theresa May is a simpleton, offering stupidly simplistic pseudo-solutions in order to appeal to other simpletons (the kind of blethering idiots who becomes overwhelmed with joy at the thought of the abolition of their own human rights!).

Theresa May thinks in a self-absorbed vacuum. She's hopelessly inept at developing clear, coherent and decisive strategies because she's so fundamentally incapable of imagining the mindset of the people she opposes, or anyone but herself and her inner circle of yes-men.

• With terrorism it's her blinkered inability to see that tearing up our liberal values is exactly what the Islamist fanatics want us to do, so her destruction of our human rights would be seen as one of their most profound ideological victories to date, and an inspiration to increase the scale and frequency of their attacks.

• With Scottish independence she's incapable of seeing that her lamentable anti-democratic "you'll do as you're told" attitude towards Scotland would breed so much anti-Westminster resentment that would provide the independence movement with the perfect propaganda to spur their movement to victory.

• With Brexit it's even worse. Her threats, antagonism, endless delaying tactics and bonkers conspiracy theory ravings have poisoned the negotiations before they've even started. The fact she's delusional enough to actually envisage herself as the lead negotiator just shows how utterly narcissistic she is. 

She's so unable to understand her own weaknesses precisely because she's shockingly incapable of imagining other people's perspectives.

She's lived in a bubble of wealth and privilege for decades, and she's notoriously unwilling to tolerate criticism or dissent, so she will carry on doing what she sees fit, even if that's handing ISIS the kind of profound ideological victory they're craving.

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Theresa May is so desperate to cling to power she's now playing to the bigot crowd

Theresa May 's attempt to scapegoat the Muslim community in order to pass the buck for her own government's security failings has to be one of the most despicable political moves a serving British Prime Minister has ever made.

By claiming that "the Muslim community needs to do more to tackle extremism" Theresa May was doing two things.

She was deliberately whipping up anti-Muslim sentiments in order to pass the buck for her own government's catastrophic security failings. And as an added personal bonus she was making a very strong appeal to the burgeoning extreme-right demographic with some juicy anti-Muslim rhetoric for them to feast on.

This tactic played brilliantly with the extreme-right demographic as her Muslim bashing rhetoric was gleefully and uncritically reported in the Britain First hate chamber, but it must absolutely sicken anyone with the remotest bit of human decency.

The facts are absolutely clear that the Muslim community in Britain did their bit to protect us from terrorism, and that it was the government that let us down.

• We know the Manchester Muslim community did their duty by reporting Salman Abedi as an extremist five times.

• We also know that the London Muslim community reported Khuram Butt as an extremist too.

The British Muslim community did their bit, but the government failed.

The government weren't just repeatedly warned by the Muslim community either.

• They were tipped off by the Americans that Salman Abedi was planning a terrorist attack against Britain, but they actually let him come back through the UK border unhindered!

• Khuram Butt was such a well known extremist that he was featured in a Channel 4 documentary called "The Jihadis Next Door"! But the government failed to monitor him properly, even as he was going around asking neighbours how to hire a van just days after ISIS releases a call for Islamists to use vehicles and knives to commit public attacks in the west.

The government failed spectacularly in their duty to protect us, and if Theresa May had any decency at all she would have resigned over the consequences of her disgraceful austerity dogma inspired cuts to the public safety budget, despite warning, after warning, after warning, after warning, after warning that she was neglecting her primary duty to protect public safety.

But we all know Theresa doesn't have any decency.

She's so indecent that she actually decided to whip up division and anti-Muslim hatred by passing the buck for her own catastrophic failings onto the Muslim community who warned us of the danger of extremists in our midst, but who were ignored.

If you've got any basic human decency you'd be outraged at Theresa May's cowardly buck passing, and her undisguised effort to whip up anti-Muslim sentiments as a crude appeal to the extreme-right demographic

Theresa May is now so rattled that she considers her only hope of clinging onto power for another five years is crudely and obviously appealing to the bigot demographic in the hope they turn out to vote for her.

So the question has to be whether the traditional moderate-right "One Nation" Tory supporters are going to accept their leader spouting divisive anti-Muslim rhetoric in order to appeal to the extreme-right demographic?

Or whether they actually see this shocking cowardice and divisiveness from their leader as "a price worth paying" for whatever personal benefit they think they'd be getting from another five years of Tory rule?

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Don't forget about our NHS heroes

The terrorist attacks in Manchester and London are still heavily dominating the political debate.

The Tories and their cheerleaders in the mainstream media flinging ever more desperate and disgusting smears at Jeremy Corbyn in order to make out that he sides with them and outrageously passing the buck for their own failings onto the Muslim community (who repeatedly reported the attackers to the authorities for extremism but were ignored).

The Labour Party are pointing to their costed manifesto commitments to reverse the savage Tory cuts to our police, emergency services and UK Border Agency, criticising the Tory public safety cuts and questioning how the hell these attacks by known jihadists were allowed to happen.

So an awful lot of the talk is about terrorism and security, but please don't forget our NHS heroes.

Please don't let the terrorists win by letting horror at their actions totally over-rule the fundamentally important political issue of NHS funding.

Our doctors, paramedics, nurses, and surgeons were absolute heroes after the terrorist attacks, and NHS staff like mental health specialists and physiotherapists will be heroes of the recovery.

The evidence is absolutely clear that the NHS cannot afford another five years of Tory vandalism.

Don't just believe me, ask anyone you know who works in the NHS about whether services have got better or worse over the last seven years.

Many argue the chaos in the NHS is deliberately being provoked in order to push more privatisation.

This may sound like a cynical conspiracy theory but the Chairman of Conservative Health Paul Charlson even explained the purpose of this ruinous Tory NHS agenda is to scrap the free at the point of use principle, and replace it with a US style private health insurance model.

The socialist principle that health care is delivered on the basis of need, not on the ability to pay for it is the single most fundamental pillar of the NHS.

Paul Charlson openly admitted that scrapping such a policy would be "political suicide" and that the only way the Tories could get away with it is if the NHS were reduced to such a state of crisis that "we need to start paying for health treatment now" can be introduced as the Tory justification narrative for their NHS-wrecking agenda.

If we hand Theresa May and her Tory wreckers the keys to the NHS for another five years then maybe the terrorist attacks of the future will come with huge US-style medical bills for the victims, and for the families of the victims who died on the treatment table?

NHS staff are heroes who go above and beyond the call of duty to care for us. Our NHS heroes deserve better than another five years of Tory NHS-mismanagement.

The great British public have paid for the NHS through our taxes. We deserve better than another five years of Tory NHS-mismanagement.

Respect our wonderful NHS staff, and respect yourself.

Vote against the Tories to save the NHS.

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13 questions mainstream media should be asking about Salman Abedi

The more we find out about the Manchester Arena terrorist, the worse it looks for the UK government and secret services.

One of the first revelations about the British-born terrorist Salman Abedi was that he had been banned from a mosque for expressing pro-ISIS views, and repeatedly reported to authorities for by other members of the Manchester Muslim community too.

So much for the extreme-right mantra that "Muslims should do more to root out terrorists"!

The Muslim community of Manchester did their civic duty by repeatedly reporting Abedi to the authorities, but the authorities apparently did nothing to actually stop him.

Another early revelation was that he committed the atrocity at Manchester Arena only days after arriving back from the lawless terrorist breeding ground in Libya, and also that he was also known to have travelled to Syria to associate with Islamist fanatics.

People soon started asking the obvious question of how he managed to travel between Manchester and the terrorist hotspots of Libya and Syria unhindered by the UK security services, and if he was able to travel freely between the UK and terroist hotspots, how many others have also been slipping in and out of the UK to train as terrorists in Libya and Syria?

The website Middle East Eye soon found several UK based Libyan fighters who detailed how they had actually been encouraged by the UK secret services to go and fight in Libya. Several of them had had their passports revoked for suspected extremism, but had them handed back when the Islamist uprising against Gadaffi began to kick off.

The next damning revelation was that the UK secret services were tipped off in January 2017 by the Americans that Abedi was actively planning an act of terrorism. Apparently the UK security services monitored him for a while before dropping the investigation.

Their excuse for dropping the investigation into a known extremist it is absolutely astounding. Their claim is that they were too busy juggling other terrorist investigations!

Of course keeping track of suspected terrorists is a difficult job. Nobody is saying it's easy. But if the Muslim community of Manchester repeatedly tipped them off that the guy is a dangerous fanatic; and the Americans tipped them off that he's actively planning a terrorist atrocity; how is it that the investigation was dropped? And how is it that he managed to pass through the UK border without at least being stopped?

13 questions

Here are a some important questions that any mainstream media journalist who is not a total Tory stooge should be asking Theresa May, the Home Secretary Amber Rudd, and the Tory government:

1. Was the Home Office made aware of the US tip off that Salman Abedi was actively plotting a terrorist attack in the UK?

2. Why was the investigation into Salman Abedi dropped within months of the US tip off?

3. Who signed off on the investigation being dropped?

4. What was the justification for the investigation being dropped so soon after such a serious tip off? 

5. Have any other investigations been dropped after tip offs from the Americans that they're actively planning a terrorist attack (if so how many)?

6. How did someone who was so recently under investigation as a terrorism suspect allowed to pass through a UK airport on the way back from Libya?

7. The French Interior Ministry says that they have evidence that Abedi was also in Syria. What evidence does the UK have about his involvement with Islamist extremists in Syria, and was this information considered when the decision was taken to drop the investigation?

8. Was Salman Abedi himself given dispensation by the UK secret services to travel to Libya to fight in the civil war there?

9. How many British-Libyans in total were given dispensation by the UK secret services to fight in the Libyan civil war (or is the number unknown)?

10. Was the then Home Secretary Theresa May aware of this policy of giving British-Libyan extremists dispensation to travel to Libya to fight in the war, or was it going on behind her back?

11. How many of these British-Libyan fighters have now returned to the UK (or is the number unknown)?

12. What action was taken (if any) when Abedi was reported to the police counter-terrorism hotline five years ago, and again one year ago?

13. What action was taken (if any) when Abedi was reported as an extremist by the Didsbury mosque two years ago?

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Read Jeremy Corbyn's speech on terrorism for yourself

The Tory Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described Jeremy Corbyn's speech on terrorism as "monstrous" and the Tory Security Minister Ben Wallace led the campaign of lies and smears accusing Jeremy Corbyn of trying to "justify" terrorism. 

Anyone who listens to or reads the speech for themselves will know that he did no such thing.

As you'll see, in his speech Corbyn repeatedly stated that questioning the current approach to terrorism does not "remotely excuse, or even adequately explain, outrages like this week’s massacre.".

Tory propaganda works by programming people to believe lies. It relies on people just believing what they're told by their Tory lords and masters, and not going to the primary source to check things out for themselves. 

In essence it relies on gullibility and intellectual laziness.

Here's the full speech so you can judge it for yourselves:

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"Our whole nation has been united in shock and grief this week as a night out at a concert ended in horrific terror and the brutal slaughter of innocent people enjoying themselves.

When I stood on Albert Square at the vigil in Manchester, there was a mood of unwavering defiance.

The very act of thousands of people coming together sent a powerful message of solidarity and love. It was a profound human impulse to stand together, caring and strong. It was inspiring.

In the past few days, we have all perhaps thought a bit more about our country, our communities and our people.

The people we have lost to atrocious violence or who have suffered grievous injury, so many of them heart-breakingly young.

The people who we ask to protect us and care for us in the emergency services, who yet again did our country proud: the police; firefighters and paramedics; the nurses and doctors; people who never let us down and deserve all the support we can give them.

And the people who did their best to help on that dreadful Monday night – the homeless man who rushed towards the carnage to comfort the dying, the taxi drivers who took the stranded home for free, the local people who offered comfort, and even their homes, to the teenagers who couldn’t find their parents.

They are the people of Manchester. But we know that attacks, such as the one at the Manchester Arena, could have happened anywhere, and that the people in any city, town or village in Britain would have responded in the same way.

It is these people who are the strength and the heart of our society. They are the country we love and the country we seek to serve.

That is the solidarity that defines our United Kingdom. That is the country I meet on the streets every day; the human warmth, the basic decency and kindness.

It is our compassion that defines the Britain I love. And it is compassion that the bereaved families need most of all at this time. To them I say: the whole country reaches out its arms to you and will be here for you not just this week, but in the weeks and years to come.

Terrorists and their atrocious acts of cruelty and depravity will never divide us and will never prevail.

They didn’t in Westminster two months ago. They didn’t when Jo Cox was murdered a year ago. They didn’t in London on 7/7. The awe-inspiring response of the people of Manchester, and their inspirational acts of heroism and kindness, are a living demonstration that they will fail again.

But these vicious and contemptible acts do cause profound pain and suffering, and, among a tiny minority, they are used as an opportunity to try to turn communities against each other.

So let us all be clear, the man who unleashed carnage on Manchester, targeting the young and many young girls in particular, is no more representative of Muslims, than the murderer of Jo Cox spoke for anyone else.

Young people and especially young women must and will be free to enjoy themselves in our society.

I have spent my political life working for peace and human rights, and to bring an end to conflict and devastating wars. That will almost always mean talking to people you profoundly disagree with. That’s what conflict resolution is all about.

But do not doubt my determination to take whatever action is necessary to keep our country safe and to protect our people on our streets, in our towns and cities, at our borders.

There is no question about the seriousness of what we face. Over recent years, the threat of terrorism has continued to grow.

You deserve to know what a Labour Government will do to keep you and your family safe.

Our approach will involve change at home and change abroad.

At home, we will reverse the cuts to our emergency services and police. Once again in Manchester, they have proved to be the best of us.

Austerity has to stop at the A&E ward and at the police station door. We cannot be protected and cared for on the cheap.

There will be more police on the streets under a Labour Government. And if the security services need more resources to keep track of those who wish to murder and maim, then they should get them.

We will also change what we do abroad. Many experts, including professionals in our intelligence and security services have pointed to the connections between wars our government has supported or fought in other countries, such as Libya, and terrorism here at home.

That assessment in no way reduces the guilt of those who attack our children. Those terrorists will forever be reviled and implacably held to account for their actions.

But an informed understanding of the causes of terrorism is an essential part of an effective response that will protect the security of our people, that fights rather than fuels terrorism.

Protecting this country requires us to be both strong against terrorism and strong against the causes of terrorism. The blame is with the terrorists, but if we are to protect our people we must be honest about what threatens our security.

Those causes certainly cannot be reduced to foreign policy decisions alone. Over the past fifteen years or so, a sub-culture of often suicidal violence has developed amongst a tiny minority of, mainly young, men, falsely drawing authority from Islamic beliefs and often nurtured in a prison system in urgent need of resources and reform.

And no rationale based on the actions of any government can remotely excuse, or even adequately explain, outrages like this week’s massacre.

But we must be brave enough to admit the war on terror is simply not working. We need a smarter way to reduce the threat from countries that nurture terrorists and generate terrorism.

That’s why I set out Labour’s approach to foreign policy earlier this month. It is focused on strengthening our national security in an increasingly dangerous world.

We must support our Armed Services, Foreign Office and International Development professionals, engaging with the world in a way that reduces conflict and builds peace and security.

Seeing the army on our own streets today is a stark reminder that the current approach has failed.

So, I would like to take a moment to speak to our soldiers on the streets of Britain - You are doing your duty as you have done so many times before.

I want to assure you that, under my leadership, you will only be deployed abroad when there is a clear need and only when there is a plan and you have the resources to do your job to secure an outcome that delivers lasting peace.

That is my commitment to our armed services.

This is my commitment to our country. I want the solidarity, humanity and compassion that we have seen on the streets of Manchester this week to be the values that guide our government. There can be no love of country if there is neglect or disregard for its people.

No government can prevent every terrorist attack. If an individual is determined enough and callous enough, sometimes they will get through.

But the responsibility of government is to minimise that chance, to ensure the police have the resources they need, that our foreign policy reduces rather than increases the threat to this country, and that at home we never surrender the freedoms we have won, and that terrorists are so determined to take away.

Too often government has got it wrong on all three counts and insecurity is growing as a result. Whoever you decide should lead the next government must do better.

Today, we must stand united. United in our communities, united in our values and united in our determination to not let triumph those who would seek to divide us.

So for the rest of this election campaign, we must be out there demonstrating what they would take away: our freedom; our democracy; our support for one another.

Democracy will prevail. We must defend our democratic process, win our arguments by discussion and debate, and stand united against those who would seek to take our rights away, or who would divide us.

Last week, I said that the Labour Party was about bringing our country together.

Today I do not want to make a narrow party political point. Because all of us now need to stand together.

Stand together in memory of those who have lost their lives.

Stand together in solidarity with the city of Manchester.

And - stand together for democracy.

Because when we talk about British values, including tolerance and mutual support, democracy is at the very heart of them.

And our General Election campaigns are the centrepieces of our democracy – the moment all our people get to exercise their sovereign authority over their representatives.

Rallies, debates, campaigning in the marketplaces, knocking on doors, listening to people on the streets, at their workplaces and in their homes – all the arts of peaceful persuasion and discussion - are the stuff of our campaigns.

They all remind us that our government is not chosen at an autocrats’ whim or by religious decree and never cowed by a terrorist’s bomb.

Indeed, carrying on as normal is an act of defiance – democratic defiance – of those who do reject our commitment to democratic freedoms.

But we cannot carry on as though nothing happened in Manchester this week.

So, let the quality of our debate, over the next fortnight, be worthy of the country we are proud to defend. Let’s have our arguments without impugning anyone’s patriotism and without diluting the unity with which we stand against terror.

Together, we will be stronger. Together we can build a Britain worthy of those who died and those who have inspired us all in Manchester this week.

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Conclusion

Now that you've read the speech for yourself you can see that Corbyn never once tried to justify or excuse terrorism. He simply tried to explain that the current approach to terrorism is has been failing, and that whichever party forms the next government has a duty to do better.

Agree with him or disagree with him on these points, that's fine. 

But don't allow sick right-wing liars like Ben Wallace and Boris Johnson programme you into believing reality-reversing nonsense about what Corbyn said.

These Tory liars are expecting you, and me, and the rest of us. to just believe their outright lies about what Corbyn actually said without considering his actual words.

How sick and arrogant is it that they expect people to just lap up their lies and smears, rote learn them, and then repeat them as if they're facts?

How much intellectual dishonesty does it prove that instead of offering any kind of logical counter-argument to what Corbyn asserted, they just try to programme the public to reject it by spreading their outright lies and smears?

How much contempt does this brazenly dishonest smear campaign show for the general public? 

 Another Angry Voice  is a "Pay As You Feel" website. You can have access to all of my work for free, or you can choose to make a small donation to help me keep writing. The choice is entirely yours.

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